Session+6+ISA+14

(see the list of all sessions at http://isarc10internetforum.wikispaces.com/ISA+2014 ) Title:

The Communal Idea and Participation,
Tuesday, July 15, 2014: 03:30 PM - 05:20 PM, Yokohama, Booth 65 Format: Oral Is this an invited session?: N Language: English Research Committee: RC10 Participation, Organizational Democracy and Self-Management (host committee) Session Organizer and Chair Michal PALGI **Head:** The University of Haifa The Institute for Research of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea Israel **Phone Number:** 972-4-8240418 **Email:** palgi@research.haifa.ac.il -- Will not be published

Abstract id# 65502 Participatory Democracy and Socialism: How to Extend Participatory Democracy from the Political to the Economic Sphere
 * Gabriel HETLAND**, Sociology, UC Berkeley, UC Berkeley Dept of Sociology, Berkeley, CA

Abstract Text: The economic and political shortcomings of representative democracy have led many to search for alternative, more direct and participatory forms of democracy. This has led, in particular, to local-level experimentation with popular control over political decision-making, via institutions such as participatory budgeting, a practice giving citizens control over local budget decisions that has spread to more than a thousand cities worldwide. This paper explores the possibility of extending participatory control from the political to the economic sphere. I argue that a radical Left party with four characteristics can facilitate the construction of what I term emergent socialist hegemony. These characteristics are: internal democracy; links to popular movements; a prefigurative committment to democratic socialism; and links to/autonomy from the national state. This argument is illustrated by examining participatory control over political and economic decision-making in Torres, which has been called "Venezuela's first socialist city".

Abstract id# 36506 Trade Union Interests In Corporate Governance In Anglo-American Firms - paper transferred from Session 5: Trade unions and participation, Tuesday, July 15, 2014: 10:30 AM - 12:20 Pm, Yokohama, Booth 65 Abstract Text: **Abstract** The participation of labour in corporate governance is institutionalized in a small number of countries, especially in European Union states, and variably constrained or systematically precluded everywhere else. Notably, the dominant model of corporate governance in Anglo-American contexts in recent decades exhibits a high prioritization of shareholder interest maximization. Much Anglophone business, economics, corporate and labour law literatures typically assume that workers do not have, or warrant, a voice in governance. Workers’ voice, where acknowledged, is expected to be expressed at the level of workplace decisions and employment relations, or through their shareholding interests. That assumed normative exclusion of workers’ representation from high levels of firm decision-making has powerfully subordinated the valuation of workers’ interests and their political expression. In Anglo-American contexts, finance economics has prevailed in corporate governance decision-making. However, since the financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath the centrality of finance and shareholder sovereignty is now called into new question. Corporate governance is being brought into a political economic discourse and expanded agenda of interest and demand. This paper addresses critical questions in regard to workers’ and trade unions’ interest in, and voice aspirations toward, corporate governance and high-order decision making in Anglophone contexts. The paper is part of a larger comparative empirical study of corporate governance in four Anglophone countries (United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia and New Zealand) conducted in 2012 – 2014. The paper specifically addresses Anglophone trade unions’ interest in corporate governance. It discusses findings that indicate significant and various interests among national trade union bodies. It finds that lack of salience or lack of effectiveness of labour interest expression in corporate governance cannot be assumed as lack of interest in participation across Anglophone countries.
 * Catherine CASEY**, School of Management, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

Abstract id# 45919 The Communion without Boundaries and Sakae Osugi's Anarchism
 * Masaya HIYAZAKI**, School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract Text: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the political ideals of Sakae Osugi. Osugi argued that it was possible to establish a “society of mutual aid” based on the principle of “expansion of life”. In his view, the hierarchy meant fixing the boundary and every boundary was an expression and exercise of power. That explains why anarchism is a perpetual movement which attempts to transcend every boundary forming the hierarchy. Osugi aimed at a free and diversified federal society where life is expanded. Osugi’s influence stemmed from his articulation of the basic concerns of his generation. That generation confronted difficulties of a different order from those faced by the Meiji leadership. Osugi was attracted to the problem presented by the emerging masses: how could they be incorporated into society? His reply to this question was “mutual aid”. This paper focuses on the relation between both notions of freedom and society and analyzes it throwing a light on the principle of “expansion of life” in Osugi's anarchism. Similarly to his contemporaries, itmight be helpful to enquireinto that principle, in a way that is beneficial to the relation between freedom and society.

Abstract id# 64679 Sustainable Credit Guarantee Associations
 * Maria FREGIDOU-MALAMA**, Department of Business and Economic studies, University of Gävle, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Gävle, Sweden

Abstract Text: This research analyses credit guarantee associations and their contribution to financial solutions in local societies. Credit cooperatives aim to guarantee bank loans for micro, and small and medium-sized enterprises. Qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and direct observation with organisations, public authorities, businesses and bank institutions to conduct a case study of Upper Norrlands Credit Guarantee Association (ÖNKGF), in Sweden. Cooperative enterprises have been democratically owned and controlled by their members and have taken economic and social responsibility for the development of local societies and businesses for the benefits of the members and the society. The research shows that ÖNKGF creates relations with the members by communicating their value base as a cooperative organisation. They develop cooperation with local banks to support commercial business and entrepreneurs who want to start and finance their own businesses. They get advantage to attract new members by emphasising democratic management and members´ sovereignty, educate members, network with authorities and bank officials in charge of handling loans and with local and global organisations using mouth to mouth marketing. For the cooperative credit guarantee association we can see an enlargement of the market and members´ participation and also need for innovations to sustain its business. New entrepreneurial activities face difficulties because of lack of stable financial resources.
 * Purpose of the paper**
 * Research method**
 * Research Findings**

The study contributes to the literature of credit cooperative financial sector, by presenting a model of successful operation of ÖNKGF. We recommend managers to develop networks with members and other stakeholders to promote cooperative collateral financial activities in the local economy to legitimate and sustain their business in the local society.
 * Main Contribution**

Abstract id# 46021 Paper withdrawn Brand of the Region As a Stimulating Factor of Building an Effective Dialogue Between the Authorities and Society
 * Leisian KAIUMOVA**, Political science, sociology and public relations, Ulyanovsk State Technical University, Ulyanovsk, Russia

Abstract Text: The development of civil society is an important national and international priority of the modern era. The future of Russia and its place in the global community depend on the involvement of the population in the process. But while the civil society in Russia is positioned at the very "narrow ground". The purpose of this article is to determine the role of region’s brand communications of the building a dialogue between the authorities and society. We carried out a research "The attitude of the population of the regional center to the new brand of the region" (Ulyanovsk, 2013), quota-target sample was 1200 people. One of the major brands in our city Ulyanovsk, which are engaged in the promotion of regional and municipal management structure, is a new symbolic brand "Ulyanovsk - the cultural capital". One-third of residents adheres to the official point of view, and notes the advantages for the development of the brand (Ulyanovsk possibility of merging with other regions and countries). On the other hand, there is a clear lack of confidence to the new government initiative in the cultural development of the region. The most loyal to the official point of view, are young people aged between 16 and 24 years (53 %), 43, and 41 % are people with secondary and vocational education, 52% - students, 42 % - people who appreciate a positive economic development in the region. Realizing the purpose of work, was able to identify the brand of the region can play a catalytic role information and perform an integrating function in terms of building a constructive public-private dialogue. This is possible with proper selection of the main regional ideas around which they want to unite its people, as well as using a properly aligned brand communications between the population and the authorities. Abstract id# 47595 Paper withdrawn Structure,Organization and Discourse: Three-Dimensional Integration of Community Mobilization
 * Xin ZHAO**, Sociology Department, Shanghai Administration Institute, Shanghai, China

Abstract Text: In community construction, the gap between emotions and actions is the start point of the research of community mobilization. Community construction in China can be considered as a social reform movement. Studying community mobilization under the theoretical paradigm of social movements, we can extract three dimensional analysis framework among mobilization structure, organization and discourse. This research finds that the community residents in Chinese communities still stay in object position in community mobilization, in other words, residents’ cognitive framework of mobilization subject, has not been completely shaped. The institutional construction of community has promoted step by step, however, residents committees, one of the main bodies of mobilization, wander in the dual role of administration and autonomy.The self-governance organizations begin to present “authorized mobilization” characteristics, but it is easy to be in a dilemma between the integrated self- institutionalization and insufficient legitimacy.Discouse selection in mobilization is far away from community’s characteristic, bending to government’s will, lacking the force of stimulating emotion and collective action. Based on the analysis above, this paper puts forward possible research issues that are how to realize the modern community mobilization of the overall construction to solve community construction difficulties.The methods are cutivating community sense and civil consciousness, promoting the identity construction of multiple subject in community mobilization, reconstructing identity space and completing institutional construction of community mobilization.